Take Back Your Sleep By Cathy Lee Taylor NABBW’s Expert on Menopause Menopause results into trouble sleeping for so many women. We wake up too many times in the night to go to the bathroom. Our restless legs wake us up. As our hormones continue to shift (typically declining) beginning with peri-menopause throughout menopause and post-menopause, we experience more hot flashes and night sweats that interrupt our nightly rest. Even small amounts of light and noise can wake us up and stimulate our nervous system making it difficult to fall back to sleep.  All of these things can leave us feeling... Read More

Tis’ the Season for Family Stress and Drama: How to Navigate Difficult Family Relationships During the Holidays When You\’re Living with Chronic Illness By Mary J. Yerkes NABBW’s Living with Chronic Illness Expert The holiday season is once again upon us and with it comes the family drama. No matter how close you and your family might be, it is inevitable that conflict will arise. For the chronically ill, that can create significant problems. Relational stress worsens most conditions and can even trigger a flare requiring medication and hospitalization. How can the chronically ill... Read More

The Simpler Way By Lisa Byrne NABBW’s Boomer Women\’s Fitness Expert Sometimes it feels so easy to NOT exercise, doesn’t it? There is some sort of weird relief in deciding to procrastinate your exercise intentions for another day.  I mean, what’s the big deal, you’re going to start- just not today. With no direct effects slapping you in the face, nobody breathing down your neck  the decision is easy, no fretting. Delay until tomorrow, again. Whew. HOWEVER, the beloved New Year is approaching. That’s when everyone resolves something that usually has some relationship to fitness.... Read More

Activate your Power By Lisa Byrne, NABBW’s Boomer Women\’s Fitness Expert Believing that you have power and using it for your growth will make the biggest difference in your fitness for life program. I often think about the word “power” and how to get the message across about its influence. As a movement and fitness coach, part of what I teach to the women that come into the studio is how to build their strength and power for everyday life. No, I’m not talking about bulking up by pumping iron. These are Boomer women who have nothing like that on their radar. And it’s not only... Read More

Is It Time To Move On? By Lisa Byrne Personal training sessions can be a considerable amount of money to invest for the sake of achieving a goal that you have deemed you cannot do alone. The relationship that you have with your personal trainer is highly dependent upon your degree of satisfaction and their degree of professionalism. Hiring a trainer may come through word of mouth, or by your observation of what\’s around you or perhaps a good ad in the paper caught your eye. However it is that you ended up working with a trainer you want to be aware of some flags that may signal stepping... Read More

The fitness profession regards September as one of the three months that stand out for people to re-commit to exercise, get in shape and begin a new program (January and May are the others). September is one of the best months to refocus and reinvent some aspect of yourself. Why? For a few reasons. Whether or not you have children tapping into the back to school tide and energy are hard to miss. With the energy shift of entering a new grade kids surely have butterflies, but the eagerness of a new beginning fills the air. Greeting the new grade they can refocus their intentions with a whole new... Read More

It is sweltering hot – dangerously hot – in many areas of the States. Right here, on my block, it hit an all time high yesterday of 103 degrees! I ran whatever errands I needed to \’run\’ at a crawl with a bottle of ice water in one hand and a \’spritzer\’ (a.k.a. spray bottle filled with ice water) in the other! And i wondered how people managed – heck how I managed – before air-conditioners. Yes, people. There was a time when we managed to get through the summer without air-conditioners! How did we get through those long dog-dayso f summer and... Read More

Boomer Women – Fit it in, no matter what With regards to your health and physical well being, how do you envision yourself, say, through the next 30 years? Looking towards that future, what matters to you now with respect to your physical well being and movement? Last year, I asked those 2 questions in the form of a survey to the Boomer women that come to my movement studio. I wasn’t just polling a bucket of Boomer women with a mean age of 57; these were the women that taught me how to teach them 10 years ago when I opened the doors. Yes, they were still with me, a lot of them. I want... Read More

Urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections in women. This female tract is more susceptible to infections during menopause due to a reduction in hormonal support from the body. This system is meant to remove the body\’s fluid wastes and is more vulnerable to multiplication of bacteria which can lead to a nasty infection. Though not typically serious, they can be very painful and most often the symptoms disappear quickly after treatment with antibiotics. Most women experience this kind of infection at least once in their lifetimes, often caused by sexual intercourse.... Read More

For many of us the biggest challenge in our day comes at night. We find it almost impossible to simply put down the fork, push away from the dinner table and move on into the night without finding our minds drifting towards food. It would be lovely to be without the obsessive food thoughts — to make space for a peaceful, calm and soulful evening. Wouldn\’t it? I have worked out an easy and yes, brilliant strategy that you can follow! Step by Step Guide: How to Beat the Nighttime Eats! Step 1. Upon Entering (after a long day\’s work or outing): Music activates the same feel good... Read More